The market's awkward situation: How can Strategy escape the fate of being "banished" during index adjustments

Amid the tumult of annual rebalancing, Strategy made an unexpected move— it survived. And this very survival exposes a deeper question: does this company still qualify as a traditional enterprise?

The “Unidentified Flying Object” in the Index Adjustment Storm

On December 13, 2025, Nasdaq 100 announced its annual reconstitution list. This time, the adjustments were significant: Biogen, CDW, GlobalFoundries, Lululemon, ON Semiconductor, and Trade Desk were removed, while six new companies were added. The changes will take effect on December 22.

In this “great purge,” Strategy surprisingly received an exemption. This company, once known for its software business and now famous for accumulating Bitcoin, passed the index provider’s assessment smoothly.

However, passing does not mean approval. Strategy’s existence itself is as strange as an unidentified flying object—it is neither a traditional tech company nor a financial instrument, but more like a crypto asset treasury disguised as a corporate entity. Since shifting to a Bitcoin strategy in 2020, its connection to its core business has gradually faded.

The Market’s Cold Response

Investors did not buy into Nasdaq 100’s decision to retain Strategy. After the announcement, the stock price dropped 3.74% on the same day and continued to decline over the past month. This reflects a harsh reality: surviving in the index is far from enough to quell market doubts.

The reason is simple— when a company’s stock price volatility is entirely dominated by Bitcoin’s price movements, traditional valuation logic has already failed. Investors realize they are essentially making a disguised crypto asset bet, rather than buying a well-operating tech company.

The Unavoidable Core Issue

Strategy’s scale has become too large to ignore. According to disclosures, it is currently the world’s largest Bitcoin holder among corporations and continues to actively increase its holdings. In early December alone, the company spent about $962.7 million to purchase 10,624 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 660,624 Bitcoins, valued at approximately $60 billion at market prices.

At this scale, Strategy’s business logic has become a simple formula: Company Valuation = Bitcoin Assets + Premium (or Discount) + Financing Structure. This prompts reflection: can we still call it a business? Or is it more like a publicly listed investment fund disguised as a software company?

This question is not just philosophical but also a real regulatory dilemma.

MSCI’s Potential Decision and Chain Reaction

MSCI, the index provider, has recently brought this issue to the forefront. The organization is developing a new rule: companies with more than 50% of their assets in crypto will be removed from major indices. The decision is expected around January 2026, with some reports pointing to around January 15.

This is not a symbolic threat. According to JPMorgan’s analysis, if MSCI makes a negative decision, passive funds may be forced to sell off large amounts—up to $2.8 billion. For Strategy, this would be a true exile.

Strategy’s Response: From Passive to Active

In response to the potential threat from MSCI, Strategy has taken proactive steps. On December 10, the company’s chairman Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le jointly issued an open letter, attempting to reframe the company’s structure.

Their core argument is: Strategy is not merely a passive accumulator but a carefully designed financing vehicle. The company raises funds systematically through issuing layered financial instruments (especially preferred stock) to acquire Bitcoin. In other words, this is financial engineering, not blind asset accumulation.

Meanwhile, Strategy is also financing approximately $1.44 billion to bolster market confidence—ensuring the company can maintain dividend payments and debt servicing during stock price fluctuations, alleviating market concerns about its financial stability.

A Larger Narrative

Saylor’s ambitions go far beyond this. At the Bitcoin MENA conference in Abu Dhabi, he proposed a more ambitious vision: building a “digital credit” mechanism on top of Bitcoin to generate additional revenue, while attracting capital from sovereign funds, commercial banks, and family offices.

This is essentially redefining Strategy’s role—it’s not an outlier in the market but a deliberately constructed bridge between traditional finance and crypto assets. Whether it can successfully persuade the market to accept this new identity will determine Strategy’s fate in 2026.

Whether the unidentified flying object will ultimately be incorporated into the plan or recognized as a threat remains uncertain.